Amber Alert issued for boys, father after Phoenix killings

PHOENIX – An Amber Alert was issued Saturday for two young brothers and their biological father missing since the boys’ mother and a male housemate were found fatally shot in the Phoenix home where police said the victims and boys lived.

The alert said 47-year-old Dimas Coronado may have fled to Mexico with the boys, but Sgt. Armando Carbajal, a police spokesman, said investigators had no firm indication of the whereabouts of Coronado or the boys.

Police say they want to talk to Coronado about the case but he hasn’t been charged.

Police say Coronado’s 2009 white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was found unoccupied about six blocks from the home where the shooting occurred. There were no signs of him or the boys.

On Saturday night, authorities said they are now looking for an older model light green Ford pickup truck with a white camper. The truck has a Mexican plate of ZUD-71-64. It’s not known from which state in Mexico the license plate was issued.

The mother and Coronado were married but had been estranged, and it’s not clear whether they remained married, Carbajal said.

Police say a relative of one victim called police early Saturday after finding the two people shot and the boys gone. The relative said the boys were with their mother the previous evening.

Police initially identified the boys as 8-year-old Victor Coronado Nunez and 5-year-old Jonathan Coronado Nunez but the alert later identified them as Victor Nunez-Coronado and Jonathan Nunez-Coronado.

The revised names for the boys likely reflected information newly learned by detectives, Carbajal said. The investigation was in its early stages, he said.